Biography
Peter Rees Roberts (b. Mitcham, Surrey, UK 1923 - d. Farnham, Surrey 1998) studied drawing and illustration at Wimbledon School of Art (1939-41) and mural painting under Professor Ernest Tristram at the Royal College of Art, which had transferred to Ambleside in the Lake District for the duration of WW2. He painted scenes of workers in rural industries, his 1942 tempera panels of The Bobbin Mill at Ambleside was his most ambitious and successful work.
Rees Roberts taught at Farnham School of Art and from 1947–64 was involved in magazine and newspaper illustrative and advertising work, while he continued to paint, travel, take out patents for inventions and exhibit at The London Group, Modern Art Gallery, Arcade Gallery and in Spain, where he had bought a house in 1963. In 1964 re-started teaching at Farnham School of Art and he also taught for a time at Brighton College of Art until 1970. He was also involved in severtal projects including murals for Marlborough Hotel, Lloyd’s Bank in Cambridge, the SS Goya and Guildford Hospital, nine big exterior wall sculptures and designs for Allied Breweries.
Rees Roberts was married to the artist Ursula McCannell (1923-2015) and their sons Tristan, Marcus and Lucien all became artists. In 1989 he was included in a three-generation show of McCannells at England & Co.. London.